Nigeria to test effectiveness of Covid-Organics

A sample of Covid-Organics in Antananarivo, Madagascar, May 8, 2020. REUTERS / Gertruud Van Ettinger

Text by: RFI Follow

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari received several sachets of artemisia-based herbal tea on Saturday, May 16, which Malagasy authorities are touting as a remedy for the new coronavirus. The Covid-Organics will be tested in Nigeria before being made available.

Publicity

Read more

With our correspondent in Abuja, Moïse Gomis

It was the President of Guinea-Bissau, Umaro Sissoco Embalo, visiting Abuja, who handed the potion to his Nigerian counterpart. Muhammadu Buhari, who officially heads the response to Covid-19 on behalf of the ECOWAS, is in line with the positions of the World Health Organization: the Covid-Organics must first be tested by scientists.

And that is what NAFDAC, the agency responsible for food and drug control in Nigeria, is preparing. She says she is ready to examine Covid-Organics through laboratory analysis and medical assessments.

Usually the verification of any product takes place over 3 months. But for the Madagascan drug based on artemisia, it should be accelerated according to Dr. Abubakar Jimoh, director of public relations at NAFDAC. The services of this agency will verify the safety and presumed effectiveness of Covid-Organics, but without carrying out clinical trials at this stage.

Chloroquine tested in Lagos state

However, NAFDAC finally approved the Lagos State application on chloroquine tests. And clinical trials should therefore start in the coming days in public hospitals in the economic capital of Nigeria.

Lagos remains largely the main focus of coronavirus infection. Even if in the north of the country, the sharp increase in deaths linked to Covid-19 disease is a source of concern for health authorities. At the last score made yesterday, Nigeria officially listed a total of 5,621 positive cases on Saturday, including 176 deaths. But the number of people tested for coronavirus remains very low compared to the 200 million inhabitants.

►Also read: Nigeria, at the time of deconfinement

Newsletter Receive all international news directly in your mailbox

I subscribe

Follow all international news by downloading the RFI application

google-play-badge_FR

  • Nigeria
  • Coronavirus
  • Health and Medicine

On the same subject

Interview

Covid-Organics: "The problem is that it comes from Africa", says Andry Rajoelina on RFI

Senegal: Scientists Submit Protocol To Test Covid-Organics

Madagascar: new scientific information on Covid-Organics